Religion & morality > Human nature in its four-fold state ... in several practical discourses

174. Alarm to State IF,
fdves; and lament your Stupidity and Obftinacyj
when we cannot prevail with you to take Warning.
If there were no Hope c f your Recovery, we ihould
be filent, and would not torment you before the
Time : But tho’ ye be loft and undone, there is Hope
in Ifrael concerning this Thing. Wherefore, I cry
unto you in the Name of the Lord, and in the
Words of the Prophet, Zech. ix. 12. ’Turn ye to the
ftrong Hold, ye Pri foners of Hope. Flee to Jefus
Chrift out of this your natural State.
Motive 1. While ye are in this State, yc muft
ftand or fall, according to the Law, or Covenant of
Works. If ye underftood this aright, it would
ftrike through your Hearts, as a Thoufand Darts.
One had better be a'Siave to the tturks, condemn¬
ed to the Gallies, or under Egyptian Bondage, than
be under the Covenant of Works now* All Man¬
kind were brought under it in Adam, as we heard
before; and thou in thy unregenerate State, art ft ill
where Adam left thee. ’Xis true, there's another
Covenant brought in: But what is that to thee, who
art not brought into it ? Thou muft needs be under
one of the two Covenants ; either under the Law,
or under Grace. That thou art not under Grace, the
Dominion of Sin over thee manifeftly evinceth; there¬
fore thou art under the Law, Rom. vi. 14. Do not
think God has laid afide the firfi Covenant^
Mat. v. 17, 18. Gal. iii. 10. No, he’ll magnify
the Law, and make it honourable. ’Tis broken in¬
deed on thy Part; but ’tis abfurd to think. That
therefore your Obligation is diflblved. Nay, thou
muft ftand and fall by it, till thou canft produce
thy Difcharge from. God himftlf, who is thy Party
in that Covenant; and this thou canft not pretend;
to^- feping thou art not in Chrifi.